Mars - Review @ Gamebanshee

European low-budget role-playing games tend to be games of highs and lows, often incredibly unpolished, clunky and with some broken mechanics, but also laden with surprising details and secrets, neat, forward-thinking mechanics and a hardcore attitude that the big-budget productions have completely forgotten by now.

Mars: War Logs, however, is not that kind of game. It's a game of flat, even mediocrity, that might not sink quite as low and be as broken as those niche titles I mentioned earlier, but doesn't have any of their highs either. Sure, there are a few neat ideas, but it's not enough. Ultimately, Mars: War Logs is as dull and barren as the planet it takes places on.

Good review and recommend reading it as it highlights many features of the game - here is the quote from web site:

"In terms of quest design, Mars: War Logs doesn't exactly shine, though there are a few good points to be cited. First of all, some quest can be failed, completely or partially, either by taking the wrong choice or simply not playing well enough (for example, one quest assigned me to escort one person to a bank, but while I ultimately managed to defeat all the enemies and take the money to the bank, the man I was escorting fell behind and was killed by bandits).

Secondly, quests often have multiple solutions, if not exactly particularly imaginative ones. With few exceptions, you're given the chance to intimidate or bluff where it makes sense, decide who to help in a situation, and walk out when you don't feel like pressing on with a task. Thirdly, while the game still features the ubiquitous quest markers and "I'll mark the location on your map!" dialogue lines, there's far less handholding than titles such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It was actually refreshing to get an investigation quest with the only direction being "find clues" and no quest markers at all."

Originally Posted by Morbus
It doesn't. They just need intelligence, guts and good game designers. That's how Fallout was made, and many others back in "the day".

Fallout wasn't really "back in the day". Fallout was at the end of back in the day. The best RPGs were always made by small (often VERY small) teams, and usually the design was done by the programmers. You have a genius programmer, that person can do a shit hot design and an interesting story to match it too. That's why they call it genius. And also who cares more about a game than its creator? You bring in big teams of mediocre people who view what they're doing as a job and nothing more and you end up with design principles such as "when the player clicks a button, awesome stuff should happen". Also, there aren't that many genius programmers out there, and the ones there are usually don't get along very well with management types so they end up being treated like dirt to the point they sit there watching porn all day while the idiots do all the work.

Anyway, Mars only costs about $3 to $5 dollars an hour to play, which is a pretty good deal when you think about it. Especially considering you can lower that price by replaying it. There's no downside, really, which is why everyone besides me should buy it.

Originally Posted by Morbus
It doesn't. They just need intelligence, guts and good game designers. That's how Fallout was made, and many others back in "the day".

Game development now cost more than before, particularly if you have a team of programmers, artists, and designers and licenses compared to the cost of Fallout back in the days, programmed by a dedicated few.

The game has very good design elements and maybe addictive replay value.

The review highlights many good aspects of the game in its 5 page long description, but strangely end up with the word 'medicore'!

Originally Posted by SpoonFULL
Game development now cost more than before, particularly if you have a team of programmers, artists, and designers and licenses compared to the cost of Fallout back in the days, programmed by a dedicated few.

The game has very good design elements and maybe addictive replay value.

The review highlights many good aspects of the game in its 5 page long description, but strangely end up with the word 'medicore'!

I found the pluses don't negate the negatives. This is a budget a title and there is no doubt about that. I also wouldn't call it mediocre. Now I only paid $15 for it, and it's still more enjoyable than all the DLC offered at the same price.